Mathematics — Grade 4

Where were you born: A graphing lesson

Students will gather data and graph the results. Lake Norman Elementary's student population has a wide range of native states. Many of the students were born in states other than North Carolina. This activity allows the students to survey each class to see what states are represented in our school. After the survey results have been tallied, students will use the data to create different types of graphs. The class will then compare the graphs and will decide which type of graph represents the information most clearly.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Mathematics)

By Erin Bradfeldt, Joan Milliken, and Kathy Beck.

What is nutrition?

In I’m on a diet and proud of it: Nutrition through math and science, page 10

Students use all they’ve learned and experienced throughout the I'm On a Diet and Proud of It unit to choose and complete an assessment option that will immerse them in food chemistry and nutrition careers.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Computer/Technology Skills, English Language Arts, Guidance, Healthful Living, and Science)

By Karina Colón.

Taking a stride in graphing

"Taking it in Stride" provides hands-on activities for students to use real-life experiences and apply them to graphing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Mathematics)

By Sandy Brooks.

Nutrition and the media: Cereal box consumerism

This lesson will offer your students the opportunity to explore nutrition and how the media impacts our consumer decisions. Students will design a cereal box and read about how the use of color, slogans, and prizes impacts buyers. This lesson plan is easily adapted for exceptional children and can be expanded and/or adapted to suit your students' needs.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts, Healthful Living, and Mathematics)

By Gloria Simmons.

Minerals and math

Students will develop ways to create self-devised rules for classifying minerals and relate this information to scientific ways of classifying minerals according to their characteristics. They will then compile this information into a chart and convert parts of the chart into a line or bar graph.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Mathematics and Science)

By Courtney Richards.

Healthy and unhealthy foods: What's the difference? (Part 2)

In I’m on a diet and proud of it: Nutrition through math and science, page 7

In this lesson, students will participate in three investigations to discover food sources, as well as advantages and disadvantages of fats.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Healthful Living and Science)

By Karina Colón.

Healthy and unhealthy foods: What's the difference? (Part 1)

In I’m on a diet and proud of it: Nutrition through math and science, page 6

In this lesson, students build scientific models to help them conceptualize the energy (calorie) to nutrient ratio provided by various types of carbohydrates, thereby discovering complex carbohydrates and lean protein as being the superior choices.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Healthful Living, Information Skills, and Science)

By Karina Colón.

Resources on the web

What's your wingspan?

In this lesson, students learn to gather and analyze data, while reviewing measurement and graphing. Prior to this lesson, students should already be familiar with measurement and units of measurement, both standard and nonstandard. After students complete... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

What is your favorite?

In this lesson, the fourth of an eight-part unit from Illuminations titled “Eat Your Veggies,” students make human line plots and circle graphs, then draw them on paper and use a website to generate them. Posing and answering questions using... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

What is the best chip?

In this investigation, students use data analysis to seek answers to the types of questions often posed by consumer agencies and people who work in sales and marketing. Illuminations provides an activity sheet, links to web resources that contain nutrition... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Healthful Living and Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

What counties are your favorite?

Students use their knowledge from the previous lesson to gather data on ten of their favorite counties (places they might like to live, visit, etc.) within a specific state. Students will hone their place value skills by representing numbers in various... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

What can data tell us?

The purpose of this lesson is to look at questions that can be posed and answered by examining data distribution and to look for circumstances that might bias the results of a study. Students analyze data collected by themselves and their classmates. Science... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Science Netlinks

Weather watchers

Students collect and analyze data about the weather and learn to make a stem-and-leaf plot. Students use newspapers, the Internet, or other sources to collect weather data. Illuminations provides links to helpful web resources and detailed instructions... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Water, water

Students compare the amount of water they use in daily life with the amount allotted for each person each day on a Space Shuttle. Then, they estimate and measure the weight of, and amount of space occupied by, a gallon of water. They collect, organize,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Tally time

In this lesson, the first of an eight-part unit from Illuminations titled “Eat Your Veggies,” students tally data about food preferences and learn the convention of displaying a set of five tallies. Then they answer questions about the data.... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Survey of hair and eye colors

In the following lesson, students participate in activities in which they focus on the uses of numbers. The tasks explore how students use numbers in school and every day settings as a way for students and the teacher to get to know each other at the beginning... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Super Bowl scavenger hunt

In many homes, the Super Bowl is an event of some significance. This activity is designed to have students examine some enjoyable (and, sometimes, obscure) questions using mathematics during the game. The questions on the activity sheet require that the... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

Sticks and stones

While playing “Sticks and Stones,” a game based on an Apache game, students collect data, investigate the probability of various moves, and determine the average number of turns necessary to win the game. Working in small groups, students develop... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–8 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

State population projections

In this activity, students examine the United States Census Bureau Web site to investigate projections of the total population of states from 1995-2025. Using the provided data, students will analyze statistics from five states of their choice, develop... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations

State names

Using multiple representations, students analyze the frequency of letters that occur in the names of all 50 states. After students predict which letters will appear most often in the names of the 50 states, they use the activity sheet to identify the frequency... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 and 7–8 Mathematics)

Provided by: Illuminations